Knowledge

After successfully completing this course, students will have:

- Basic knowledge of Old Norse poems, such as the styles of heroic poetry, poems of Norse gods and the older and newer tradition of the skald.

- Basic knowledge of metric variations in both Eddic poetry and skaldic poetry.

- A clear understanding of two Eddic poems in their original language and form.

- A clear understanding of ten stanzas of dróttkvætt (¿courtly metre¿) in its original language and form.

Abilities

- The ability to comment on and analyse a selection of the Edda poems and skaldic poems in their original language and form.

- The ability to comment on and analyse the metric structure of Eddic poetry and skaldic poetry.

- The ability to explain the use of heiti and kenningar in skaldic poetry.

General Competence

- The ability to understand sources from the Middle Ages that have variable orthography.

- The ability to draw connections between the phonological and the orthographical level in a language.

Lectures: approximately 4 hours a week for 3 weeks.

Study group: approximately 2 hours a week for 3 weeks.

A total of 18 hours.

The teaching will be held in the second third of the semester.

The teaching is planned with the intention that the students participate actively, and it is therefore expected that they carry out the assignments (written and/or oral) that will be set as a part of the teaching.

If less than five students are registered for a course, the department might reduce the teaching, please see the department¿s guidelines regarding this on ¿Mitt UiB¿. Regarding a course where this is a possibility, the students will get information about this at the beginning of the semester, and before the deadline regarding semester registration 1st February/1st September.

1) Obligatory attendance at at least 75% of the scheduled lectures and seminars.

2) If the student, in consultation with the lecturer, sets up an alternative syllabus to the standard one, the student must hand in and have the syllabus list authorised within the advertised deadline.

The compulsory requirements are valid for the given semester and the following semester.

Oral examination.

No examination support material is permitted.

The oral examination will normally be held the week after the last lecture has taken place.

It is permitted to speak Norwegian, Danish, Swedish or English during the oral exam. It will be taken into consideration that international students might need extra time in order to formulate their answers fully.

Syllabus:

A. Primary Texts

1. Eddic poetry: two Edda poems, at least 80 stanzas altogether.

2. Skaldic poetry: 10 stanzas of dróttkvætt, e.g. the selection given in chapter 7 by Else Mundal in Handbok i norrøn filologi, ed. Odd Einar Haugen, Bergen: Fagbokforlaget (2013).

B. Secondary Texts

1. An introduction to eddic and skaldic poetry, e.g. chapter 7 in Handbok i norrøn filologi.

2. A selection of commentaries on eddic and skaldic poetry.

The department will announce the complete syllabus. There is the opportunity to change parts of the literature on the syllabus in consultation with the lecturer. In this case, the candidate must contact the course lecturer as soon as possible, and hand in and have the syllabus list approved within the advertised deadline.

Department of Linguistic, Literary and Aesthetic Studies.

E-mail: advice@lle.uib.no